Rafael Nadal was eliminated in the 1/8 finals of the US Open 2022 by Francis Tiafoe. After the match, which the Iberian lost in four sets, he admitted that his opponent was better, but claimed that family problems prevented him from being 100% mentally for the last Grand Slam of the year.

Tiafoe, ranked 26th in the world, defeated Nadal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 after three and a half hours of play.

Rafael Nadal: Francis Tiafoe was better today

Nadal, winner of 22 Grand Slams in his career, said that Tiafoe beat him by playing at a better level than him.

“I played bad and he played well. If I want to get to the US Open quarterfinals, I have to play better than I have been playing. It is clear.

I had chances with a break in the fourth set and other moments to go further. If I had taken advantage it would have given me confidence and things would have been different, but there was nothing I could do today.

Congratulations to Frances for being the best.

Now it’s time to go home and mentally prepare again. When I feel ready to compete again, I’ll be there.” – Rafael Nadalreports Eurosport.

Rafael Nadal could not give 100% at the US Open due to family problems

Nadal believes that he was restless, worried about the condition of his wife, who, being pregnant, was recently hospitalized.

“There is no need to apologize. There are times when I can manage regardless of what’s going on personally, and times when I can’t. This time he caught me.

Congratulations to the opponent, I tried, but unfortunately it did not work. I trained well, but at the competitive level I lacked something fresh and maybe calm.

The reality is simple, I didn’t play well, and when you don’t play well enough, you don’t win. That’s what sport is.

“Now it is difficult for me to clearly analyze my near future. I want to go home now, I have more important things to do than play tennis. I’m not thinking about tennis right now.

I will make the decisions I need to make based on what happens. The personal aspect now prevails over the professional. We had to make an effort here.

It didn’t work for me, but now it’s time to do a reset. It’s been a tough few months.

From now on, I will have to start over from a professional point of view and personally solve such an important problem as the birth of my first child. Let’s hope that everything will be fine” – Rafael Nadal.

Francis will face Andriy Rublev (9th seed) for a place in the semi-finals of the Flushing Meadows event, after the Russian edged Britain’s Cameron Norrie (7th), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

The result of the match between Rafael Nadal and Francis Tiafoe

Video source: Eurosport